Fraud Examination 5th Edition by Steve Albrecht,Chad Albrecht,Conan Albrecht, Mark Zimbelman

Exercise 4

A "Big 4" accounting firm was auditing a limited real estate partnership that had three general partners (all brothers) and 2,000 limited partners. The limited partnership owned real property that was leased by Arby's, Sizzler, and other restaurants in various states, all under "triple net leases," meaning that the lessee is responsible for property taxes, utilities, and other such operating costs. The auditors decided to look for liens on the property to make sure property taxes were being paid and were current. In doing so, they found some liens for bank loans on the properties in a state where the partnership had no properties. Is this a fraud symptom or red flag What should the auditing firm do about this revelation